Publications
Partners
Cannes - Three women directors helped to kick off the race Thursday for top honours at the Cannes Film Festival.
But each of the films has a very different story to tell, with Australian director Julia Leigh's debut feature movie Sleeping Beauty about a young student who begins working as a prostitute in an establishment where the clients demand that she is knocked out with sleep-inducing drugs.
While French actress-turned-director Maiwenn Le Besco threw the spotlight on the daily pressures of a Paris police child protection unit, London-born Oscar winner Tilda Swinton stars in Scottish director Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Ramsay's film tells the tale of a mother facing up to guilt and grief after her teenage son goes on a killing spree in suburban middle class America.
New record
Altogether a record four women directors are competing for Cannes' coveted Palme d'Or.
Leading Japanese art filmmaker Naomi Kawase returns to the festival's main competition for the third time with a contemporary drama Hanezu no Tsuki that sets her characters against the backdrop of the sweep of time.
Two years ago, Kawase won the Cannes' Grand Prix (the festival's second prize) for The Mourning Forest (Mogari no mori.)
In her third film, Le Besco charts the lives of the child protection unit with an impressive cast including Nicolas Duvauchelle, Karin Viard and Jeremie Elkaim acting out a series of real life cases.
Taboo
But in a sense it is Ramsay's movie that breaks a real taboo in society by exploring the story of a mother with a ambivalent relationship with her child.
"I think the idea of a mother not loving her son is one of the last taboos, and something people don't want to talk about," said co-scriptwriter Rory Stewart Kinnear.
Ramsay described her movie as "a psychological horror film."
However, she insisted: "There's no violence in this film. You only see aftermath. Every Hollywood movie is more violent than this."
Based on a best-selling book by Lionel Shriver, Ramsay's movie also stars top US actor John C Reilly as the father and 18-year-old newcomer Ezra Miller as Kevin.
But each of the films has a very different story to tell, with Australian director Julia Leigh's debut feature movie Sleeping Beauty about a young student who begins working as a prostitute in an establishment where the clients demand that she is knocked out with sleep-inducing drugs.
While French actress-turned-director Maiwenn Le Besco threw the spotlight on the daily pressures of a Paris police child protection unit, London-born Oscar winner Tilda Swinton stars in Scottish director Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Ramsay's film tells the tale of a mother facing up to guilt and grief after her teenage son goes on a killing spree in suburban middle class America.
New record
Altogether a record four women directors are competing for Cannes' coveted Palme d'Or.
Leading Japanese art filmmaker Naomi Kawase returns to the festival's main competition for the third time with a contemporary drama Hanezu no Tsuki that sets her characters against the backdrop of the sweep of time.
Two years ago, Kawase won the Cannes' Grand Prix (the festival's second prize) for The Mourning Forest (Mogari no mori.)
In her third film, Le Besco charts the lives of the child protection unit with an impressive cast including Nicolas Duvauchelle, Karin Viard and Jeremie Elkaim acting out a series of real life cases.
Taboo
But in a sense it is Ramsay's movie that breaks a real taboo in society by exploring the story of a mother with a ambivalent relationship with her child.
"I think the idea of a mother not loving her son is one of the last taboos, and something people don't want to talk about," said co-scriptwriter Rory Stewart Kinnear.
Ramsay described her movie as "a psychological horror film."
However, she insisted: "There's no violence in this film. You only see aftermath. Every Hollywood movie is more violent than this."
Based on a best-selling book by Lionel Shriver, Ramsay's movie also stars top US actor John C Reilly as the father and 18-year-old newcomer Ezra Miller as Kevin.
